Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

"See you tomorrow"-
Carmilla

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce (1916, 273 pages)

Irish Short Story Month starts tomorrow!


Event Resources-Links to lots of short stories, from classics to brand new works.  If you have any questions or suggestions or if you are an author and want to be featured, please feel free to email me.

Please consider joining us for the event.  All you need to do is complete a post on any Irish Short Story and let me know about it.  I will publicize your post and keep a master list. Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions. 

Consider posting on your favorite story from The Dubliners for Irish Short Story Month-March 1 to 31

"I THINK I almost said ‘Thank God’ when Joyce died. There must have been young men who said ‘Thank God’ when Byron died, and I can think of no other writer, unless perhaps Rousseau, who wielded such an influence; who was so much the pool of Narcissus to his generation, as Cyril Connolly put it."-Frank O'Connor

"Do you know what Ireland is?  asked Stephen with cold violence.  Ireland is the old sow that eats her farrow"

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce  is his first novel.  It is considered partially autobiographical.  I find posting on it very intimidating.  It is an essential must read book for anyone into Irish literature and in fact the novel as an art form.

It follows the development and intellectual awaking of Stephen Daedalus  a young Irishman.  We see him begin to strain against his Catholic roots.  I first read this book maybe 40 years or so ago.  I am glad I have now read it for a second time.  The prose is amazing,  the theological, artistic and philosophical arguments go to the core of early 20th century culture.

Declan Kiberd in Inventing Ireland:  The Literature of the Modern Nation says one of the very basic themes of Irish literature is the weak or absent father and he deals extensively with this theme in Joyce.  I have begun lately doing word counts on some of the works I read.  Here are some results from Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.  

Father -195 times

Mother  77

God  228 times

Love 89

Death 41

Church 40

Priest  98

Ireland  26